Dr. Kris Discusses Available Targeted Therapies

Lead author Mark G. Kris, MD, chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, describes the targeted agents that are available for some of the driver mutations examined in his multicenter study. The trial focused on identifying KRAS, EGFR, HER2, BRAF, PIK3CA, AKT1, MEK1, and NRAS mutations using standard multiplexed assays and FISH for EML4-ALK rearrangements and MET amplifications.

Kris explains that erlotinib, which targets EGFR, is effective in nearly 20% of lung cancer patients. He anticipates that crizotinib will soon be approved which will be effective in approximately 7% patients. Other drugs, such as trastuzumab for HER2 positive non-small cell lung cancer, are also being developed or investigated for the remaining mutations examined in the trial.